White House allowed to join state remap suit

Supreme Court gives 10 minutes to deputy solicitor for oral arguments

PATTY REINERT, Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

Published 6:30 am, Saturday, February 18, 2006

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court said Friday that the Bush administration can help Texas lawyers defend the state's bitterly contested 2003 congressional map in oral arguments to the high court March 1.

The congressional district map, approved by the Legislature after being promoted by U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, shifted six House seats to Republicans.

Deputy U.S. Solicitor General Gregory G. Garre will get 10 minutes to argue, joining Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz in defending the state in a special two-hour afternoon argument session.

Cruz's office did not return phone calls seeking comment. J. Gerald Hebert, a Washington lawyer who represents former Democratic members of Congress unseated by the redistricting, said the administration's involvement was expected, if a bit late in the process.

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"One wonders why the Justice Department comes in at the tail end of the case, supporting the state of Texas and Republicans and trying to uphold a map that was motivated by a desire to gut Democratic officeholders," he said.

Justice Department spokesman John Nowacki declined to comment on the timing.

By July, the justices will decide whether the congressional map amounted to unconstitutional political and racial gerrymandering. The justices also will decide whether Texas should have been allowed to redraw district lines mid-decade rather than immediately after a census.

Texas' congressional primaries are March 7, but the results could be rejected if the map is deemed unconstitutional.

The Justice Department, which must review Texas redistricting plans because of past discrimination against minority voters in the state, approved the map though its career lawyers concluded that it improperly undermined minority voting rights. A Justice Department memo that surfaced last year showed that political appointees in the department overruled the career staffers.

A three-judge panel upheld the map after a trial in Austin in December 2003.

DeLay was forced to step aside as House majority leader last year after a grand jury in Texas indicted him on state money laundering charges related to the financing of campaigns for the state House. The election of more Republican state lawmakers set the stage for passage of the congressional map.